Posts Tagged ‘gm factories’

General Motors Tonawanda Powertrain employee Tim Battaglia works on an Ecotec I-4 engine.

Rising fuel prices have triggered a marked shift in what motorists are buying these days, especially when it comes to engine choices – and that has prompted General Motors to invest more than $65 million in plants in New York and Tennessee to expand production of the Ecotec four-cylinder engines used in Chevrolet’s most fuel-efficient cars and crossovers.

While GM has continued offering 6-cylinder powertrains on many models, rising demand for four-cylinder designs is leading to aggressive shifts in both vehicle design and production plans. Some mainstream makers, such as Hyundai, are all but abandoning sixes in midsize and smaller offerings.

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“GM is committed to investing in manufacturing and jobs in the U.S.,” said Cathy Clegg,GM’s vice president of labor relations during an announcement at the maker’s Tonawanda plant, in New York. “These investments in powertrain manufacturing technology will help us meet the growing needs of our customers for high quality, fuel efficient vehicles – both today and in the future.”

General Motors hopes to reassert its role as the preeminent U.S. automaker as it rolls out plans to invest $2 billion in 17 of its plants across eight states.

The move, which will be formally announced by CEO Dan Akerson during a visit to a transmission plant in Toledo, Ohio today, should create at least 4,200 new jobs. It is unclear how many of those new positions will be filled by workers paid on a lower, second-tier wage structure, however.

The Toledo plant, for one, is expected to receive $250 million in upgrades that will lead to the creation of 250 new jobs. But other plants on the list include the so-called “Poletown” plant, that straddles the Detroit-Hamtramck border, where GM produces a variety of products including the new Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.

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Akerson, a former telecomm executive named GM CEO last year, is expected to reveal only some of the details during his Toledo appearance. Additional information will be released as the project moves forward. That could help increase media coverage for a company intent on shedding its image of insolvency.

But the maker may also use the dangling carrot for wrangling further concessions from the United Auto Workers Union.

The latest GM investment will help produce a new, more efficient line of V8s.

Barely a week after announcing big investments in plants in Kansas and Detroit, General Motors is ready to invest another $890 million in five more North American factories – a move that sources say should save or add 1,600 union jobs.

The primary investment, totaling about $400 million, will go into GM’s V8 engine plant in Tonawanda, New York. It’s part of an effort to launch an all-new powertrain for products like the Chevrolet Silverado.

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Other plants on the list include an aluminum foundry in Bedford, Indiana – where employment had plunged, in recent years, from 1,200 to just 366 – Bay City, Michigan, Ste. Catherines, Ontario and Defiance, Ohio.